The New York City Police Department has released its first smartphone app, simply called NYPD, with the goal of making you safer - if a little more paranoid.
The app, currently only available on Apples App Store, is pretty simple, designed to inform the public while soliciting information from them as well. First reported late last year by the New York Daily News, the free app was released on Dec. 30th of last year and is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
There are several functions inside the app, broken down by tile on the home screen. You can view wanted lists, crime videos, the NYPD's Facebook page, crime statistics, crime news, and, my favorite, a map of New York City broken down by precinct boundaries. I've always wondered how they divvy the city up.
There's also an option to submit a tip, contact the police, and information on how to join the NYPD. Submitting a tip involves entering a physical description of the person or vehicle and even submit a photo.
This isn't the first time a law enforcement agency has created an app for committed citizens (or nosy neighbors) to submit reports and photos of untoward things happening around them. Around this time last year, the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security released a "Suspicious Activity Reporting" app, encouraging civilian sleuthing in the name of more security.
It's only been a few weeks since the app has been out, but the NYPD app has already garnered 13 five star ratings (and only one single star rating) from App Store users. The app is expected to come out for Android sometime later this year, so we'll see by then how much crime this ends up wiping out.